Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1887-07-01

give me Sl5 or | keep the pin. Will you
do it ?''
wink at the others. "That pin didn't cost
him nothin', guess ~ In fact, Jim's
principles were not believed to be ortho-
dox. BE that as it may, he accepted his
conqueror's offer with something like
gratitude ; the pin and the bank note
changed hands, and it may be stated here
that the former was never redeemed, 1t
was good stone, and John disposed of
it for $50.
This episode changed the direction of
the young mans life. He did not become
prize fighter, for it was discovered that
he was too heavy for a lightweight and
too short for a heavyweight but he
thenceforth sought the society of the
friends of the ring and of the race track
and of sports of all kinds. He betted,
carefully and with judgment, and won
much more than he lost. But his chief
hobby, and that which brought him in
the largest and surest returns, was loan
ing small sums to friends in embarrass-
ment ON the security of their jewelry. He
was taken in once or twice by paste imita-
tions ; but he took great pains to become
a good Judge of stones, and was soon be-
yond being imposed upon. AS might be
expected, many of his associates made
their living by methods obnoxious to the
law, and John could not but be aware that
the reason they were willing to pledge
JDelr personal duOTUmentS NJ SO TedSOUd-
BILE a rate was that the only outlay they
had made on them was a rupture of
the eighth commandment. But he also
reflected that the lawful owner of the
property would be no worse off for its hav-
ing been transferred to him, and that
every one else concerned would be benefit
ted thereby. He never did any convey
| ing" himself though whether on moral
grounds or for reasons of prudence and
eXpediency we need not inquire. But by
degrees he became sort of walking pawn
shop, his habit of restricting his transac-
tions to diamonds and other precious
stones enabling him to carry all his stock
in trade about his person and later, he
relegated pawnbroking to the second
place in his business, and let it be under
stood that whatsoever had good stones to
sell would be sure to find an easy and
| trustworthy customer in him he bought
| them outright, and afterwards sold them
again, sometimes to the same persons, on
the nstallment plan If the installments
were not paid regularly he foreclosed.
| Yet he was not a Shylock ; though he had
the reputation of being a keen and reso-
lutte man of business, he was also held to
| be kindly at bottom, and even generous
upon occasions. Thus he was the most
popular man in his peculiar line of indus
try and as he was uniformly fortunate in
his transactions he presently found him
| self growing rich.
modify his roaming life so far as to rent Il
! shop and spend greater part of the day
in it. But at dusk when other men of
business went home to rest, John ID. Grady
would issue from his door with well
worn black satchel in his hand and pur-
sue his way to the shady quarters OF the
town, or, occasionally and with certain
precautions, to more fashionable neigh
bornoods. Whichever way he went, and
although he received fair number of
bona tide customers at his shop, it was on
these nocturnal expeditions that by far
the larger portion of Grady's transactions
were effected. IL was then that his most
important sales as we'll as his heaviest
purchases were made, and it was then,
doubtless, that the arrangements were en-
| tered into which involved further specu-
! lations.
There was no good reason, so far as any
one knew, why Grady should have prefer
red to tramp about in this manner in
stead of sitting quietly and safely at home
and letting the world come TO him. On
the other hand, there were plenty of eX-
cellent reasons why he should pursue the
ran risks to which probably no other man
in New York would have dreamed of eX.
! posing himself. With scores of thousands
of dollars worth of diamonds in his
satchel and pockets he would penetrate
| fearlessly and alone into the very worst
]
murder, or robbery at the least, was a
standing marvel True, he was known AS
II illeud-at any rate aS cOnVenlence-tO
the crooked portion of the community
and also AS man of nerve and Drawn,
willing and able to take his own part.
But III great city there are always des-
! peradoes enough to commit any crime for
the benefit or on the temptation of the
| moment, and without thinking or caring
about ultimate results. Nor would the
! impulslveness of such persons be lesSened
by the well known fact, that Grady car
ried no other weapon than a broad baded
knife, which he kept up his right sleeve.
Probably Grady could have given no
better explanation of his foolhardy con-
duct than that It was his humor to do so,
and that the vagabond habits of his early
life were too strongly fixed upon him to
be cast aside. His confidence was so far
justified that he never, so far as is known,
came to grief save once, when he was gar
rotted by couple of footpadS belonging
to the Swamp Angels" gang and sl3,00G
worth of diamonds taken from his satch-
ell. But he took his mshap philosophical
ly, admitting that he had brought it upon
himself and remarking that it was worth
what it cost him." Nor, though he would
have had no difficulty in Identifying them
did he ever prosecute the thieves. He
knew the frailty of human nature and did
not expect too much of it.
IDuu luC CPioOiC tllu nOI CdllSc Lin "
, relinquish his night providing, and his
, short, sturdy figure, with the broad, rud
dy face, collarless neck and sharp eyes
, was familiar to hundreds of people in New
York. The police knew him well, and il
was an open secret to them that his bust
ness was used as cover for less legiti
} mate proceedings. But he was too shrewt
, and far sighted ever to stray within thu
e clutches of the law. No one could prov,
| that he came by his possessions dishonest
ly, and all the stones that he bought wer
Immediately taken from their setting
and often recut, so that Identification wa
f impossible. His sagacity and stronl
e judgment made him the confidential a.
;, sociate of the most noted thieves in Amer
h lea, especially of that higher class tina
= make bank robbing "A speciality. Whel
t such men get into trouble Grady wa
/ never backward in defraying the cost c
a their defense, and when they needed MOI
l. ey for job, and he upon being consulte
It decided that it promised we'll, there wa
a never any difficulty in getting him to &C
S vance the funds for the preliminary opera
/, lions. No doubt Mr. Grady studied hi
d own ADVANTAGE in all this. and CalCnlaIe